My Life

Shaving

One day last week after school, I found these two in the powder bathroom with a can of shaving cream and butter knives.  Intently removing their stubble:)  This is the normal attire after school.  The shoes and socks come off in the car because hello, it's still hot and they  have to wear tennis shoes all day long!  Then once in the door, the shirts, and in Kade's case, shorts come off as well.  It's all about being comfortable, and I can't blame them.  I wish I could blow these up big and put them in my bathroom, but Kade would kill me because of his lack of clothing.  One of the downfalls of being so comfortable.

Ten Things: Summer 2011

1. Our beach trip.  This is always the highlight.  We didn't stay in the beach house this year and it did cause a little bit of inconvience.  We all preferred the luxury of cooking our own meals, being steps from the beach as opposed to having to stay in a squishy hotel and drive everyday.  Other than that, it was FUN!

Kade finally attempted boogie boarding again this year after having a bad time being pulled under last year, and had a blast!  Kyle stayed in the water all day of course, so not lots of photos of him.

2.  Brandon learns to SWIM.  This is footage on the 5th day of swim lessons.  He took off and has been floatie free ever since.  We are proud of him :)

 

 

3. Our trip to Eagar.  We finally made it out to visit our friends the Woolfs.  We miss them, and it was good to just kick back and relax in a small town.  I drove the boys while Lauren was at girls' camp.  It was forever far, but worth every mile :)  The kids enjoyed just playing outside in the cooler air.  Building forts in the "forest" behind the house, going on bike rides, seeing all the animals (Brandon was in heaven!), riding the pony and going crawdad fishing.  Good times!

The kids took their catch to Colleen's house and she helped them take the shells off to cook.  I even helped and got way too much information about pulling out the "poop vein"  Really, just gross.  And no, I did not taste these little fellas.  I'm not much of a seafood/fish/water creature eating person :)

Those chickens were pecking my toes as I snapped photos of the kids.

Kade was nervous about this ride.

Brandon's ride made his YEAR!

Such a good time we had.  Thanks Linde for letting us invade your house. I have more pictures(of your kids:) That I will edit and mail to you.  We miss you and hope to get together again.

4.  Green Smoothies.  Steve started making green smoothies which consist of mostly spinach and a few frozen fruits to mask the taste.  Not nearly as bad as I thought.  He told the kids everyone had to drink one a day.  They weren't buying it.  The only kid who happily asks for his green smoothie is Kade.  I love them because I would NEVER eat that many green vegetables in one day, but it's super easy to drink them.

5. Girls Camp and Cheer Camp.  Miss Lauren was busy this summer off doing fun things.  I technically only have roughly 5 years left with her at home.  That is crazy to think about, so I don't think about it.

6.  After much begging, pleading, constant daily asking Lauren is the proud owner of contacts and braces. Sheesh, she's expensive.

7.  Took a quick hike up at Mt. Charleston.  It was pretty short, just right.  I didn't even have to carry Brandon.  He's pretty lazy when it's a long walk.  Wants to be carried and then complains that HE'S sweaty riding on your back.

8. Had a baby shower for my sister Candace.  She was expecting her first boy, and now he's here.

Meet Baby Finn.  He's so little and snuggly.  Happy for Candace and her family

9. I battled pink eye ALL summer. It was the pitts.  Don't I look lovely?

 10.  We were all happy to start up school.  The 3 months flew by and we had a great time, but we were ready to get back into a routine.  Now that the routine is here, it IS good but it is also very, very Brutal.  Especially all the driving and getting everyone to the same place at the same time.  We need more evening preparations to be made so our mornings run more smoothly :)

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Cooler Nights

I am loving this weather.  The kids actually go outside to play and want to stay out there.  Always nice coming off of the hot summer months.  I heard some laughter out back and found the kids + Steve and the dog, Lily on the trampoline.  Funny stuff.  They were bouncing her all over the place.

My little Kade love to be in his unders.  He's pretty alright with the entire neighborhood seeing him as he plays out back in them.  However, it is NOT ok to take pictures of him while wearing just underwear and he gets quite upset if no one informs him that we will be having visitors so he can properly dress himself :) 

The boys love when Steve gets home so they can go out and throw a little frisbee, wrestle on the trampoline and just enjoy time with him.  I love it cause it gives me a break :)

Love that I caught Kade mid flip.

Brandon came in with watery eyes, I think he may have gotten hurt.  I asked what was wrong and why he was crying he said, "I'm not crying, my eyes are just sweaty."  Didn't want to forget that little gem.

Beady Eyes and Scurrying Feet

While I'm plugging along editing photos for my massive summer 10 post and smiling cause they are taking me right back to happy times, I'm realizing it may take me longer to get to that killer post.  I don't want to leave anyone hanging (Carol) and I need to feel like I accomplished something today so I'll share maybe too much information of a post.  You decide.  No judging ok?

It seems we have some visitors in our garage.  Steve mentioned something "scurrying" last week, then spotted TWO little gray somethings in the garage.  I suggested getting the gel traps and FAST!  I can do lots of things, mice are not one of them.  First night, success.....two little mice trapped and shortly terminated by drowning as they were still struggling on the trap.  Brandon was totally into it.  Brought his cereal out to get a front row view of the execution.

So I thought that was the end of it.  We got the two, done deal.  A day later, I went to put some food into the outside freezer, shut the door and another went running by.  Of course I screamed, shook my hands and ran inside.  I may or may not have used a step stool to get into the freezer last night to retrieve the chicken for dinner.  I flat refuse to take the trash out. 

We loaded up the trap with peanut butter on top of the cheese.  The traps have been empty for 3 days.  That little mouse is outsmarting us.  I need to get some back up traps.  I have disappointed boys each morning as they go to see if we caught another one.  Eww!

So this leads me to a story which Steve just rolls his eyes and says it gets better every.time.  (whatever)  We had a little mouse problem when I was in 9th grade.  It was near my birthday and my grandma was over visiting in my front room.  I felt something on my toe, at that same time my mom says don't move.  Of course, I made a connection that it had to do with something on my foot, looked down and it was a little, baby mouse.  I freaked out.  My grandma came over and stepped on that little mouse and killed him.  My kids think that's such a great story because Grandma is now 91 :)  That may have something to do with my dislike of mice. 

So, I called my mom to get tips on how to get rid of these suckers and we discussed the smell.  If you could smell them?  My garage smells a little like it did when I was a kid and there were mice.  Steve thinks I'm CRAZY!  Mom supports my claims they definitely have a smell.  Mom says there is more than what I've seen.  I won't be ok until I don't smell "THAT" smell anymore.

PS Steve later told me that he was working with a general contractor who had done some work in Aliante and apparently, they had a mice problem early on.  I guess there were tons of nests out here when they started construction.  The more you know :)

 

And Summer's Gone....

Just like that.

It happened so quickly.  Truly quicker than I would have liked.  Sure, towards the end, I was counting down the days (who wasn't?), but now, now that we are in the thick of homework and schedules and driving everywhere all the time, I kind of miss those kicked back, lazy days :)

Here's my four.  A week before school started.  My boys never had haircuts...the.entire.summer. The warm light and scraggly, dirty boys + PE uniform wearing girl makes me smile.  That's summer to me.

 

Next up a top ten list of our summer.  (It's mostly so I'll feel better about documenting the last 3 months, in one post instead of feeling guilty about not getting to everything in individual posts.)I know you're on the edge of your seats :)

As Brandon would say, "This is gonna be good!"